41st Meeting of West Africa Monitory Zone Ends

By Nana Ama Bonnah

The Vice President, Dr. Muhammadu Bawumia has charged the Convergence Council of Ministers and Governors of Central Banks of the West Africa Monitory Zone (WAMZ) to focus on how to achieve a common currency for the sub-region.

Addressing the end of the 41st meeting of the Convergence Council of Ministers and Governors of Central Banks of the West Africa in Accra, Dr. Bawumia also tasked them to situate their deliberations in a global contest vis-a-vis matters relating to the Euro zone.

The meeting deliberated on the status of implementation of the WAMZ programmes as well as various activities under the Economic Community of West Africa States single currency programme.

Despite the many miles achieved in moving from a double track to a single track system in the process of achieving a unified monetary system, the Vice President said there was still much to be done before the timeline 2020.

On his part, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Ken Ofori Atta assured the gathering that Ghana was committed to the ECOWAS 2020 single currency programme as amply demonstrated by the leadership of President Akufo-Addo.

"Even though there remains a lot to be done in achieving nominal convergence, significant progress has been made in real convergence for WAMZ, including achievements in the payment systems project, the harmonisation of policies and preparation of model laws for the financial sector in the WAMZ as well as the establishment of the WAMZ College of supervisors," he pointed out.

The President of the ECOWAS Commission, Mr Jean-Claude Kassi Brou in a speech read on his behalf said the Commission had commenced collaboration with West Africa Monetary Institute (WAMI) towards the production of joint ECOWAS Commission Microeconomic convergence report.

Going forward, he said, the operationalisation of the Special Fund this year would help to accelerate the pace of implementation of the roadmap activities and also facilitate the conclusion of roadmap activities started last year.

He assured the gathering that the Commission would continue to work with all stakeholders in the integration process to ensure that the vision of a common monetary zone was realised in a timely manner.

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